View SlideshowRequest to buy this photoLane Bryant photosLane Bryant’s update of its online tool allows for its use on tablets, which is part of a trend. Color preferences are considered by the app.

In the competitive retail world, where any edge can mean big bucks, Lane Bryant has refined its
online tool designed to help give women clothing options that fit their bodies and their
tastes.

Just for You is the recently released successor to Fashion Genius, rolled out in September
2011.

While Fashion Genius worked all right, the new tool is an improvement, most significantly in its
mobile application, the company said. Just for You “is just more advanced technically and offers a
different user experience,” said Liz Crystal, chief marketing officer. Using high-powered
computations, the program asks simple questions and incorporates a user’s past purchases to suggest
items that work with the shopper’s body type, their problems with certain clothing items in the
past — tops tend to ride up, for example — and their style and color preferences.

For example, the program asks whether the shopper dresses to blend in or to stand out.
Displaying samples of, say, tops, the program asks the shopper to rate them on a sliding scale,
from “not for me” to “I love it.” After a few more questions, shoppers are presented with a range
of items selected for them — and they can begin shopping, if they like.“Retail in general is a
little bit of an arms race,” said David Smith, senior interactive strategist at SBC Advertising. “
Fashion being such a highly competitive market and (having) so much money to work with, you do tend
to see forward-thinking stuff show up there first.”

Retailers generally have been at the forefront of using digital technology such as social media
and mobile apps in their marketing. In the past few years, for instance, several retailers have
presented holographic runway shows in an effort to dazzle shoppers. Forever 21, Ralph Lauren,
H&M and Burberry all have used the high-tech holographic shows to grab the attention of their
target audience. And, in a fusion of old and new media, Calvin Klein even put QR codes on
billboards in Times Square and other high-profile places in an advertising campaign.

The way in which Lane Bryant is applying technology is different from those splashy campaigns, “
but it’s pretty smart and works at the level of comfort their target audience has,” Smith said.

Just for You is available for use on computer as well as a mobile app for use on an iPad.

“It emulates working with a great (employee),” Crystal said. “It’s much simpler and faster to
get to personalized results.”

Lane Bryant’s update of its online tool to include tablets is part of the trend among retailers.
Consumers have been adopting tablets so quickly that, according to a survey by Forrester Research
for Shop.org, almost half of retailers last year said that the average order value via tablet is
now higher than traditional Web sales.

At Lane Bryant, current purchases via iPad account for about 10 percent of the company’s
e-commerce sales. Significantly, the average Lane Bryant shopper spends $15 more when shopping via
iPad than through traditional online shopping, mainly thanks to the ease with which consumers can
sit in a comfortable seat and shop with a tablet — “couch shopping,” as some retailers call it.

“Retailers that are winning aren’t targeting on a mass level,” Smith said. “They’re figuring out
how to speak on a one-to-one basis.”Information on numbers of people using the program and sales
that can be attributed to it were not available.

Such personal targeting is not only part of the Just for You tool but a key element in Lane
Bryant’s use of social media, Crystal said.

“I personally look at (the chain’s Facebook page) every single day,” Crystal said. “We really
use it. Whether to engage with (customers) or just to let her know about a promotion, it’s a
critical tool for us. It’s very important for us to stay in tune.”

“This is almost like what boutiques have done to survive in recent years,” Smith added. “It’s
all about the quality of the product and of the service when you shop at that place. Price isn’t
what it’s all about.”

Ultimately, Lane Bryant and other retailers are headed toward a shopping experience that starts
with a consumer “couch shopping” by using a tablet while sitting at home, then seamlessly feeds
into the moment a customer walks into a store by incorporating location programming, “and you know
what I’ve been looking at online, and an associate says, ‘Hey, here are these things you’ve been
looking at,’ ” Smith said.

While Lane Bryant hasn’t arrived at that point yet, “things need to be easy, convenient,”
Crystal said. “Otherwise we’ll lose (the customer).”

Such hyper-personal focus can be “simultaneously creepy and innovative,” Smith said, but Lane
Bryant’s efforts to keep in touch with its audience will help it overcome customers’ qualms about
sharing personal information.

“At this point, consumers have figured out the game,” Smith said. “People understand they’re
giving a lot of information about their habits and themselves. If you can show you’re doing it for
a good reason, they’ll be a lot more open to doing it.”